Re: Linux 4.18-rc7

[Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>]

On Mon, 30 Jul 2018, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 6:01 AM Kirill A. Shutemov <kirill@shutemov.name> wrote:
> >
> > I think I missed vma_set_anonymous() somewhere, but I fail to see where.
> 
> Honestly, by now we just need to revert that commit.
> 
> It's not even clear that it was a good idea to begin with. The rest of
> the commits were cleanups, this one was driven by a incorrect
> VM_BUG_ON() that triggered, and that checked "vma_is_anonymous(vma)"
> without any explanations of wht it should matter.
> 
> I think the biggest problem with vma_is_anonymous() may be its name,
> not what it does.
> 
> What the code historically *did* (and what vma_is_anonymous() checks)
> is not "is this anonymous", but rather "does this have any special
> operations associated with it".
> 
> The two are similar. But people have grown opinions about exactly what
> "anonymous" means. If we had named it just "no_vm_ops()", we wouldn't
> have random crazy checks for "vma_is_anonymous()" in places where it
> makes no sense.
> 
> So what I think we want a real explanation for is why people who use
> "vma_is_anonymous()" care. Instead of trying to change its very
> historical meaning, we should look at the users, and perhaps change
> its name.

You make a very good point on the naming. Especially confusing when
layered on top of "we call shmem 'file' here, but 'anon' there".

I have no problem with reverting -rc7's vma_is_anonymous() series.

> 
> In this case, for example, I think the *real* problem was described by
> commit 684283988f70 ("huge pagecache: mmap_sem is unlocked when
> truncation splits pmd"), and the problem is that an existing check
> that required that mmap_sem was held was changed to say "only for
> anonymous mappings".
> 
> But the fact is, you can truncate mappings that don't have any ops just *fine*.
> 
> So maybe that original BUG() was entirely bogus to begin with, and it
> shouldn't exist at all?
> 
> Or maybe the code should test "do I have a vm_file" instead of testing
> "do I have vm_ops"?
> 
> What's the problem with just doing split_huge_pmd() there when it's a
> pmd_trans_huge or pmd_devmap pmd? Why is that VM_BUG_ON_VMA() there in
> the first place? Why are allegedly "anonymous" mappings so special
> here for locking?
> 
> Adding a few more people to the cc, they were involved the last that
> time VM_BUG_ON_VMA() was modified.
> 
> New people: see commit bfd40eaff5ab ("mm: fix vma_is_anonymous()
> false-positives") for details. Right now I think it's getting
> reverted, but the oops explanation in the commit is about that
> 
>             kernel BUG at mm/memory.c:1422!
> 
> which was/is debatable and seems to make no sense (and definitely is
> still triggerable despite that commit 684283988f70 ("huge pagecache:
> mmap_sem is unlocked when truncation splits pmd") that limited it a
> bit - but I think it didn't limit it enough.

I'm all for deleting that VM_BUG_ON_VMA() in zap_pmd_range(), it was
just a compromise with those who wanted to keep something there;
I don't think we even need a WARN_ON_ONCE() now.

It's historical: back in the day when only (hugetlbfs which never
gets there, and) anon THP used huge pmds for userspace, it did half-
document an obscure assumption underlying __split_huge_pmd(), and
IIRC was added in response to a trinity bug catch in that area.

(It remains quite interesting how exit_mmap() does not come that way,
and most syscalls split the vma beforehand in vma_adjust(): it's mostly
about madvise(,,MADV_DONTNEED), perhaps others now, which zap ptes
without prior splitting.)

Once DAX and huge tmpfs came in, the BUG had to be scrapped or weakened
because truncation and hole-punching can come that way without mmap_sem.
And perhaps other drivers since are taking advantage of huge pmds now,
with other assumptions.

But I have not yet taken a look to see where the -rc7 changes actually
go wrong: I'll spend a little while looking, but don't expect to find it -
certainly don't wait on me, I'll only speak up if I find something.

Hugh